The Vegas Golden Knights lost their third straight game Friday at PPG Paints Arena, losing 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is however the case of Max Pacioretty who will hold the most attention.
The former Montreal Canadiens left the game in the second period and never returned to the game thereafter. The striker finally spent 9 min 17 s on the ice and took advantage of this time to prepare the net for Jack Eichel.
Pacioretty also got noticed for the wrong reasons, picking up a minor penalty after punching Penguins defenseman Kris Letang behind the head. The crowd favorites, however, did not take advantage of this power play.
It was Mark Friedman who finally scored the winning goal early in the third period. He beat goalkeeper Laurent Brossoit with a precise shot, following a well-orchestrated zone entry.
Bryan Rust, on the power play, and Evan Rodrigues, in an empty cage, also hit the target in the third period for the winners. Mike Matheson in the first period and Jeff Carter in the next also scored for the Penguins.
At the other end of the ice, Tristan Jarry made 40 saves. He gave in to Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo.
Blue Jackets reward Merzlikins
In Columbus, the Blue Jackets rewarded goaltender Elvis Merzlikins’ efforts by tying the game seconds before the end of regulation time to claim a 3-2 shootout win over the Minnesota Wild.
With just over 30 seconds left when Zach Werenski directed a pinpoint shot from the blue line that wormed its way into the top of Kaapo Kahkonen’s net. In the shootout, only Yegor Chinakhov found the back of the net, he who had also scored his first goal in the first period.
For his part, Elvis Merzlikins stopped 36 of the 38 pucks aimed at him, in addition to blocking the three opposing attempts in a shootout. He was only foiled by Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello.